docx md

Guide

How to convert DOCX to Markdown

Turn a Word document into clean Markdown in a few seconds - free, private, and with your tables, lists and images intact. Here's the fast way, plus the details that matter.

Markdown is the lingua franca of README files, wikis, static sites and note apps. Word's .docx is where a lot of writing actually starts. This guide shows the quickest way to get from one to the other without losing structure - and how to automate it if you write code.

The fast way: convert it in your browser

The converter on this site runs entirely on your own machine - there is no upload, no queue, and no account. It's the simplest option for a one-off file, and it's safe for confidential documents because the file never leaves your browser.

  1. Open the converter. Go to the converter and drag your .docx onto the page, or click "Choose a .docx" to pick it. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.
  2. Pick your Markdown flavor. Choose GitHub Flavored Markdown for tables and task lists, or CommonMark for maximum portability. Toggle images, footnotes and front matter as needed.
  3. Review the result. Read the Markdown, or switch to Preview to see it rendered. Any downgraded elements are listed as conversion notes.
  4. Copy or download. Copy the Markdown to your clipboard, download a .md file, or download a .zip that bundles the Markdown with an images folder.

That's it. For most documents you'll have clean Markdown in a couple of seconds.

GitHub Flavored Markdown vs CommonMark

Two dialects cover almost every target. GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) adds tables, task lists, strikethrough and footnotes - pick it for GitHub, GitLab, most wikis and static-site generators. CommonMark is the strict, maximally portable core; it renders tables as HTML so they still display everywhere. If you're unsure, start with GFM.

What gets preserved

A good converter keeps the shape of your document, not just its words. This one preserves:

  • Headings, ordered and nested lists, and task lists
  • Tables - as Markdown pipes, or HTML when cells are merged
  • Images, extracted so you can download them alongside the Markdown
  • Bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code and blockquotes
  • Footnotes, definition lists, and math
  • Document metadata, optionally as a YAML front-matter block

Some things simply have no Markdown equivalent - SmartArt, charts, and page geometry like columns and margins. Rather than fail, the converter keeps their text where it can and tells you what was downgraded.

Tips for a clean result

Bring the images with you

If your document has pictures, use Download .zip. You'll get a .md file plus an images/ folder, with the Markdown already pointing at the right paths.

Keep the title and author

Turn on Front matter to prepend the document's properties (title, author, dates) as a YAML block - handy for static site generators like Astro, Hugo and Jekyll.

Old .doc files

Only the modern .docx format is supported. If you have a legacy .doc, open it in Word or Google Docs and save a copy as .docx first.

Converting DOCX to Markdown in code

Doing this in bulk, or inside your own app? The converter is powered by docx_to_markdown, an open-source Dart package. Add it to any Dart or Flutter project and you get the same conversion programmatically - on a server, in a CLI, or on the web. The developer guide has copy-paste examples.

How does it compare to Pandoc?

Pandoc is the powerful, universal document converter - brilliant, but it's a command-line tool you have to install. This site aims for Pandoc-level structural fidelity with zero setup: open a page, drop a file, done. For scripting large batches Pandoc is still a great choice; for a quick, private, no-install conversion, a browser tab is hard to beat.

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